This document discusses using LEGO® models to aid reflection on teaching practice through metaphors. It provides an overview of a workshop that explored using LEGO® model making to clarify thoughts and feelings and see subject matter in a new light. The workshop helped 35 students on a postgraduate certificate program reflect on their learning journeys and engage in deeper conversations during summative assessments. Making models provided a relaxed way for students to articulate their learning and the impacts of their studies on their teaching practice through metaphorical representations.

1. Using LEGO® to aid reflection on practice
through metaphors
Chrissi Nerantzi
Academic Developer, certified LSP facilitator
c.nerantzi@mmu.ac.uk / @chrissinerantzi
18th Annual SEDA Conference Creativity in Educational Development
“Play isn’t the enemy of learning, it’s
learning’s partner. Play is like fertilizer for
brain growth. It’s crazy not to use it.”
(Brown, 2010)

2. ILOs
By the end of this workshop, delegates will be able
to:
• Explore the benefits and challenges of learning
through making within Academic Development
• Discuss the LEGO® model making approach used
within the LTHE module of the PGCAP
Programme
• Identify opportunities for learning through forms
for creative play and art in academic programmes
and professional development provision

3. Learning through making

4. Thinking and creating with our hands
•
Making is connecting (Gauntlett)
•
Playing/Reflecting/Learning with
LEGO?
– from replication to uniqueness
– from literal models to metaphorical
models
•
Connectionism (Papert) > learning
through making mental/real models
•
X is Y = metaphor (Aristotle) mixing
up the unexpected, finding
similarities in the unfamiliar
•
“new understanding through
metaphors” (Schön)
image created using http://www.tagxedo.com/

5. Let’s explore learning through making together

6. “Taking time to make something, using the hands,
gave people the opportunity to clarify thoughts or
feelings, and to see the subject-matter in a new
light. And having an image or physical object to
present and discuss enabled them to communicate
and connect with other people more directly.”
Gauntlett (2011, 4)

7. you the learner
Q: Who are you as a
learner?
Task 1
(individually):Create a
model using LEGO®
Task2 (in small groups):
Share with others and
discuss

8. Using model making in the context of a
summative assessment

9. Postgraduate
Certificate in Academic
Practice (@PGCAP)
•
•
•
•
active experimentation
Lego in the context of the Learning and
Teaching in Higher Education module
Assessment as learning > social media
portfolios
Professional discussion > Lego model
making activity

10. “When we walk into our workplace, the classroom,
we close the door on our colleagues. When we
emerge, we rarely talk about what happened or
what needs to happen next, for we have no shared
experience to talk about. Then, instead of calling
this the isolationism it is and trying to overcome it,
we claim it as a virtue called ‘academic freedom’:
my classroom is my castle, and the sovereigns of
other fiefdoms are not welcome here.”
Palmer (2007, 147)

11. So what happens?
before
• guidelines
shared
• LEGO models
(30 mins)
during (30
mins)
• share learning
journey using
the LEGO model
• engage in a
conversation
• reflection
• assessment
after
• feedback
provided in
minutes
• further
reflection
through social
media
• sharing

12. 4C LEGO® Learning Framework
Connect: reflecting on experiences and
learning
Construct: constructing of a model linked to
this
Contemplate: verbalising and analysing the
model
Continue: extending engagement through
sharing and commenting on models made by
others (through social media).

14. “This model shows my movement from black and white, linear teaching towards a broader
understanding of good teaching and a greater sense of adventure and experimentation in my
own practice- moving into colour !!”
Dr Sian Etherington
http://pgcapsianetherington.wordpress.com/professional-discussion/

15. Results
findings
data
over 1 academic year
students participated 35 (2 cohorts)
panel members 10
interview with students and panel members
reflective accounts
•relaxed
•more reflective
•articulate with more ease
•metaphors richness of
learning and impact of module
on practice
•deeper conversations
•unconscious learning
•assessment: “informal”
discussion with peers

16. Let’s connect
Dr Sian Etherington, PGCAP student

17. Extending opportunities

18. my curiosity driven journey
of discovery
from empirical LEGO® use
to an evidence-based
LEGO® approach
to LEGO® Serious Play®

19. theoretical underpinning
“learning by making”
Constructionism
(Papert)
“In flow”
(Csikszentmihalyi)
LSP
“hard fun”
(Papert)
“new understanding
through metaphors”
(Schön)

20. • The builder owns the model
• Metaphors belong to the builder
• We talk about the model

21. Remember!
We trust our hands!
We trust the process!
We all build!
We all participate!

22. LSP Method, steps
1. Ask a question
2. Build
3. Share
4. Reflect

23. transformation of experiences
•
•
•
•
•
from passive to active
from the individual to the group
from domination to pan-participation
from construction to de-construction to re-construction
from replication to uniqueness

24. Why? To increase...
• Insight
• Confidence
• Commitment
When?
Collective intelligence
•Goal (A->B)
•Complex process
•Sharing for a purpose
•Community feel, safe
place

25. It is not about the bricks but what the bricks enable!

26. you the designer(s)
Ideal spaces for learning...
(contextualise first)
Task 1 (2 mins): create an area of this
space (individual)
Task2 (2 mins): Bring your areas
together to create the learning space
(groups of 4-6)
Group Task 3 (2 mins): Share your
ideas with another group
(groups of 10-15)

27. What other tools
could we use to
provide alternative
opportunities for
expression,
engagement,
reflection and
learning?

28. useful links
• LEGO in education scoop it http://www.scoop.it/t/lego-in-education
• LEGO links on diigo http://www.diigo.com/user/chrissinerantzi/lego
• PGCAP YouTube Channel: Professional Discussion videos
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9AA3BD8E7263D435
• LEGO in Education http://education.lego.com
• LEGO(R) Serious Play® http://www.seriousplay.com/
• LEGO® Serious Play® an introduction
http://seriousplaypro.com/docs/LSP_Open_Source_Brochure.pdf
• PGCAP Flickr collection: Lego models
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pgcap/sets/72157632104255891/
• Visual metaphors Google + Community
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/1041371895903444796
65

29. References
Brown, S. (2010) Play. How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul, London: Avery, Penguin.
Gauntlett, D. (2011) Making is connecting. The social meaning of creativity, from DIY and knitting to YouTube and Web2.0, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Geary, J. (2012) I is an other, The secret life of metaphor and how it shapes the way we see the world, New York: Harper Perennial.
Hallgrimsson, B. (2012) Prototyping and Modelmaking for Product Design, London: Laurence King Publishing.
Marton, F. (1994) Phenomenography as a Research Approach, in: Husen, T. And Postlethwaite, N, (2nd ed) The International Encyclopedia of Education,
Vol. 8, Pergamon, pp. 4424-4429, available athttp://www.ped.gu.se/biorn/phgraph/civil/main/1res.appr.html [accessed 72 December 2012].
Moon, J. (2010) Using Story In Higher Education and Professional Development, Oxon: Routledge.
Nerantzi, C. and Despard, C. (submitted) Lego models to aid reflection. Enhancing the summative assessment experience in the context of Professional
Discussions within accredited Academic Development provision, Innovations in Education and Teaching International.
Owens, T. (2012) Hitting the nail on the head: the importance of specific staff development for effective blended learning, in: Innovations in Education
and Teaching International, Vol. 49, No. 4, November 2012, 389-400.
Palmer, P. J. (2007) The Courage to teach. Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Papert, S. and Harel, I. (1991) Situating Constructionism, in: Constructionism, Norwood: Ablex Publishing, Available from:
http://www.papert.org/articles/SituatingConstructionism.html [accessed 1 January 2013]
Schön, D. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

30. Using LEGO® to aid reflection on practice
through metaphors
Chrissi Nerantzi
Academic Developer, certified LSP facilitator
c.nerantzi@mmu.ac.uk / @chrissinerantzi
18th Annual SEDA Conference Creativity in Educational Development